INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION EQUIPPED WITH FIREARMS

(how would a gun work in space?)

http://www.wesh.com/news/15298911/detail.html

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts aboard the International Space
Station apparently have access to a gun.

Russian Cosmonauts carry a gun on their Soyuz space capsule, which is
attached to the space station.

Every spacecraft carries survival gear for crash landings, and the
Russian Soyuz has a kit that includes the gun.

A photo of a space tourist using one version of the weapon is posted on
his Web site.

But although the gun has been there for as long as the space station has
been in orbit, its existence is kept quiet. NASA and Russian officials
won't talk publicly about it.

Former NASA engineer Jim Oberg, who is an author and journalist, wrote
about the gun on his Web site. He said the gun has no place in an
environment where people are under such high stress.

"There have been cases of severe psychological strain on people in
space, strain that they have taken out -- that their shipmates worried
about the ultimate actions," Oberg said.

Experts said the idea of an astronaut losing control was unthinkable
until one year ago, when Lisa Nowak shattered the myth.

Her own attorney said she was insane when arrested for hunting down
another woman, and prosecutors said she was armed.

Nowak had flown in space just seven months earlier.

Oberg knows an astronaut bent on orbital manslaughter could simply throw
any number of switches to do the job, but he said the crews would be
safer if the gun was locked up or left on Earth.

The gun is located in a survival kit between some seats aboard the Soyuz
spacecraft. All the crewmembers know about it, and U.S. astronauts who
fly aboard the Soyuz are trained to use it.

--
Rob Cypher
robcypher.livejournal.com
aka "Ben" the dxm abuser on A&E's _Intervention_
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE - YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED